The Super Morpher, Chapter 5: Learning Through Practice, Part 1

Ryan woke up and felt an arm across his chest. He looked over at Becky who was snuggled up against him and he smiled. He had so much fun with Becky on their date last night. First they went and got a pizza from Antonios, who made the best pizza in the city. They’d talked and laughed for a while, he’d had no idea that Becky was so funny. After that, they walked over to the planetarium and did a little stargazing. After that Becky talked him into going to Club Trip, and they had spent most of the night dancing. After that he walked Becky back to her apartment, she invited him up and he ended up staying for some more fun.

The watch on his wrist started beeping and he groaned. He reached over to turn it off as fast as he could, but it was too late. Becky stirred. “Ryan? What was that?”

Ryan sighed. “That was an alarm reminding me that I’m supposed to go and meet with Jordan to work on one of his experiments.”

Becky pouted. “Do you have to leave already? We didn’t even get to have breakfast yet.”

“I’m sorry, Becky, but I have to go. Jordan gets pretty upset if I’m late.” Ryan gave Becky a quick kiss on the lips and and crawled out of bed and began hunting for his clothes that were strewn about the room.

Becky watched Ryan with a longing look on her face. “Are you sure you have to go now? Maybe we could have a little more fun before you go off to work with Jordan.”

Ryan bit his lip and breathed in deep. “I’m sorry, but I have to go. I had a great time last night, and I’ll call you later to see if you want to have another one tonight.”

Becky smiled. “You had better. If you don’t, I’ll call Jordan and see if I can’t get him to stand you up.”

Ryan laughed. “I’ll see you later, Becky. Stay beautiful.” Ryan gave her a wink before opening the door to her room and nearly bumping into Becky’s roommate, Samantha. She was wearing a bathrobe with her hair wrapped up in a towel turban and a toothbrush in her mouth.

She glared at Ryan. “So you did end up spending the night. If you decide to do so again, could you try to keep the noise down? Some of us have class in the morning.”

Ryan smiled back at her. “I can’t make any promises, but you should definitely get a different advisor; one that can help you avoid morning classes.”

Samantha crossed her arms. “I’m sorry, not all of us are only in school because we’re football superstars. Some of us are here because we actually want to learn.”

“I’m not a football player anymore, but I do know how to have fun. Maybe I can help you have some fun sometime too?”

Samantha gasped. “You are a pig! Get out of my apartment!” She pointed at the front door.

Ryan laughed and walked toward the door. He opened the door, turned and said, “The offer is still good if you change your mind.”

“Out!” Ryan ducked through the door and closed it behind him.

🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺🔻🔺

Ryan walked into the lab. “I’m sorry I’m late. I didn’t know how hard it was to catch a bus this early in the morning from the other side of town.”

Jordan looked up from his computer screen and absently said, “Oh, hi, Ryan. I didn’t even realize you weren’t here yet. Guess you had better start exercising.” Jordan turned back to his computer and started typing away at it while mumbling to himself.

Ryan pulled off his gloves and set them on the counter. He dropped down to the ground and started doing pushups. “So you’re not mad that I’m late? Usually you freak out about stuff like this.”

Jordan replied distractedly, “Is that so?”

“Yeah, you usually get on my case about me shirking responsibilities and being late.”

“I agree.” Ryan picked up one of the textbooks sitting next to Jordan and dropped it onto the ground with a loud thud. Jordan jumped and glared at Ryan. “What was that for?”

“You aren’t paying any attention to what I’m saying. What has you so distracted?”

Jordan turned off the computer and sighed. “Dr. Mechanique has me working on a new project for him. I’m working on finding a new lightweight, durable, non-corrosive alloy for him to use in his prosthetics and I’m having a difficult time finding one with the right mix of qualities. I’m not looking forward to telling him that I can’t find one for him to use.”

Ryan smiled. “Oh, come on. I’m sure that a genius like you would have no problems finding a solution that would work. I’m pretty sure Dr. Mechanique feels the same way, otherwise he wouldn’t have asked you to work on this. You haven’t come up with anything yet?”
“Well, I have come up with several possible alloys for him to use, but I’m certain there is one out there that can have the strength of the ones that I’ve already found, but is lighter.”

“It sounds to me like you have already done more than he was able to.” Ryan snapped his fingers. “You know what you need? You need to do something fun, to get your mind off of the problem for a while so that you can come at it with a fresh mind. That’s what you usually tell me when I’m having trouble with homework.”

Jordan laughed. “It is, isn’t it? I might have to try that. So, why didn’t you come home last night?”

“I was out with Becky, and she invited me to stay over for the night, if you know what I mean.”

Jordan looked at Ryan in shock. “You slept with Becky? I didn’t even know you guys were dating! What about waiting for Kari?”

Ryan shrugged. “Who knows how long it will be before Kari agrees to go out with me? While I wait for her to come to her senses, I may as well have some fun with Becky.”

Jordan shook his head. “You know, that was a pretty dumb move, Ryan. I’m pretty sure that Kari is the type of girl that will be less likely to go out with you if you do stuff like this.”

Ryan rolled his eyes. “Psst, shows what you know. If the girls are playing hard to get, you have to make them jealous. I’d say, if anything, I just improved my chances.”

“Whatever. Shouldn’t you be doing some pushups or something?”

Ryan dropped back down to the ground and began doing pushups again. “So have you been working on any fun new toys for me to play with?”

Jordan looked away. “I have a few ideas for new gadgets for you to play with, but I haven’t had time to work on any lately. I’ve been a little busy working on that problem for Dr. Mechanique.”

“That’s okay. I’ve been doing pretty well so far with what you’ve already given me. What kind of gadgets are you thinking about working on?”

Jordan turned and smiled. “I noticed the biggest problem you have with your powers is that you are limited to turning into what you have around you. So I am working on making special containers that you can carry with you that will have different materials you can absorb.”

Ryan stopped doing pushups and looked at Jordan. “I usually have plenty of stone around me to use. Body made out of stone combined with unbreakable fabric seems like a pretty good combination to me, why would I use anything else?”

“What if you end up someplace with no stone for you to absorb? Or what if someone knocks you into a lake? Being made of stone will just make you sink then, but wood floats and is also very durable. It’s more light-weight too. Rubber could be useful for getting around or absorbing blows. There are a lot of possibilities that could end up helping you in the field.”

Ryan nodded his head. “I see what you mean. What else have you been working on?”

“That’s the only idea I have that’s ready to be worked on at this time, but I am working on trying to come up with a way to get you around the city faster. I’m thinking possibly…”

Ryan interrupted Jordan and said, “A motorcycle!”

“Some grappling hooks. A motorcycle? You don’t even know how to drive one.”

Jordan shook his head. “So far when you have been out helping people the police end up chasing you, and you run to the rooftops to escape. Grappling hooks would help you to get there faster. A motorcycle is a bad idea because it limits you to staying on the ground, where the police could set up ambushes to trap you, or someone could steal it while you are helping someone else. Plus the police would be able to trace a motorcycle back to you. Grappling hooks are much better.”

“What if you invented a motorcycle that could drive on walls? That could help me escape.”

Jordan sighed. “I’m a scientist, I can push the boundaries of science, but I can’t perform magic. Get back to your workout.”

Thank you for checking out my story, if you liked this and want to see more of it, come back on Wednesday when I will publish part two, and check out the other stories I’m working on writing, here: Tales of the Imagination, check out my facebook page for updates on the stories here: Facebook, and follow me on Twitter for here: @EJBorchardt. Please like, comment, and tell your friends if you like what you’ve read.